1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an improved vehicle washing installation and, more particularly, to such an installation having a wash bay with a floor covered with artificial turf.
2. Description of the Related Art
Various prior art vehicle washing installations and systems have heretofore been known and which are in wide spread use for washing automobile, trucks, buses, railroad equipment and the like. A typical vehicle washing system includes a wash bay having a floor in which a conveyor is mounted for moving a vehicle through the installation and a series of power driven brushes and scrubber curtains are moved around and/or over the vehicle under a drenching spray of water and a cleaning agent such as soap or detergent to remove dirt, grease and other grime. The washed vehicle is then given a drenching spray of clean rinse water and is dried.
Operating economy and the need for water conservation require recovery and reuse of water which has been contaminated in the washing process and collected in a floor trench beneath the vehicle path. Fresh make-up water also must be introduced to supplement lost water which typically amounts to five to ten gallons during the washing of a vehicle. Recovered water is usually quite dirty and particulates and oily residue must be removed from the contaminated water before recycling through the system. A suitable filtration system for vehicle wash water is shown in my prior U.S. Pat. No. 4,652,368, which is incorporated herein by reference.
In passing recovered dirty water through a filter system, the dirt particles, grease and other debris cause wear in the filter systems and shorten their useful lives. Therefore there is a need for a means to prefilter the dirt out of the water as much as possible prior to running it through the filter system.